Remind Me! How Many Tentacles Should It Have?

Giant squids and their mega-cephalopodic partners-in-crime, giant octopi, have a fruitful life in and out of the cinema. They are probably one of the few fantasy creatures that have genuine real-life equivalents. Sure, squids and octopi from the real world mightn’t be quite as humungous as their fictional cousins but size-wise they’re not too shabby.

Giant squids/octopi — along with their soul-mates, the sea-serpent — are frequent visitors to the pages of ship logs and newspapers throughout the ages. They crop up in the indices of weird-shit books and magazines with a sort of casual inevitability that must be the envy of celebrities everywhere.

Sometimes the really big ones are identified as the legendary “Kraken”, star of Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest (US-2006; dir. Gore Verbinski) — though the visualisations of the Kraken in Clash of the Titans (US-2010; dir. Louis Leterrier) and indeed Ray Harryhausen’s version in the original 1981 film weren’t overly squid-like, apart from the tentacles. Still, it’s all grist for the fantasy mill, scientific accuracy or not.

Apart from the above mentioned, famous giant squids/octopi from the cinema include the nameless beastie from various renditions of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (in particular, the 1954 version directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Kirk Douglas as Ned and James Mason as the infamous misanthrope Captain Nemo), Ray Harryhausen’s tentacle-deprived Really Big Octopus from It Came From Beneath the Sea (US-1955; dir. Robert Gordon), the Whatever-It-Is from Deep Rising (US-1998; dir. Stephen Sommers) and the co-star of the recent “classic” Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus (US-2009; dir. Jack Perez/Ace Hannah).

Early book illustration of “The Scene” from Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

What this is all about is just my typically roundabout way of introducing you to a new giant squid movie. This one’s a short animated film called Giant Squid, directed by Maxwell O. Perry and released by Dimly Lit Films.

Created in the “limited animation” style of South Park, it tells the tale of a very nasty and very big squid and the poor sods who hunt it.

Synopsis:

When Elise’s boyfriend is abducted by a giant green killer squid in the Atlantic Ocean, she enlists the help of a marine biologist and a drunken squid poacher to track the squid before it is too late … but the squid has other plans.

Giant Squid has everything you need in a giant squid movie. This includes:

1. A large green squid:

2. Beautiful women:

3. Gore in abundance:

4. A beautiful woman in a bikini covered in blood:

5. An attractive female scientist complete with lab coat and glasses:

6. A expository scene delivered by the attractive female scientist:

8. A panicking naval commander:

6. A crusty old sea-dog who’s the only one that knows how to deal with the Squid:

7. A climactic scene where the giant squid trashes stuff:

8. A concluding scene (But who will prevail?)

Anyway, check out the trailer below:

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Giant Squid will be playing in the 1pm Matinee Block of films on Saturday 23 July (between films from South Korea and India) at the 15 Minutes of Fame Film Festival in Palm Bay, FL. For those in the general vicinity of Florida, the Festival takes place at the Palm Bay Dollar Movies at 160 Malabar Rd. Tickets are $2.00 each. Bargain!

Meanwhile there are some “Making of” videos that you can watch starting here.